Bake your products on a metal sheet, a ceramic tile, oven-proof glass or a Sculpey Oven-Safe Work Mat. If you place your clay project on the surface and paint it before baking, wipe excess paint off the baking surface before you bake the painted clay.
Tips for Painting on Polymer Clay and Working With Mixed Media
Date Published: 11/19/2020 Table of Contents:
- Select Quality Paint
- Use the Right Tools
- Let the Clay Cool
- Sand the Surface
- Paint Before You Bake
- Create Texture With Paint
- Add an Antique Finish
- Seal the Finished Product
- Working With Mixed Media
- Craft Colorful Creations With Sculpey
Can you paint on polymer clay? Yes, you can paint on polymer clay! Painting on polymer clay is completely safe and can help bring your vision to life. You can use hundreds of color combinations and painting techniques to create unique designs. Try painting over light-colored clay to make your design pop or colorful polymer clay to create a vivid color scheme.
You can add facial features to your sculptures or create a bold pattern on clay jewelry. However you decide to paint your creations, it’s best to apply the paint after baking the clay. The paint could change color or prevent your clay from setting in the oven. To avoid burning your fingers, allow your cured polymer clay to fully cool before you start painting. Paint adheres best after the clay has cooled down.
Painting polymer clay puts the finishing touches on your project. Create little details on miniature creations or add gradients of color to handmade jewelry. You could even use paint to simulate other materials, like wood or stone. The possibilities are endless when you use mixed media in your projects. First, check out our different polymer clay options, and then begin painting!
If you’re ready to get painting on polymer clay, prepare with a few tips and ideas to gather all the inspiration you need. Discover polymer clay painting tips below to help add the perfect finishing touches to your creations.
Use the Right Tools
The tools you use to paint your clay will depend on what you’re making and the area you need to paint. Using the right tools can provide precise results. Paintbrushes and tools are easy to find and come in an array of shapes and sizes. To get the best tools for your clay projects, you should:
- Use quality brushes that won’t shed hair, as that would create unwanted texture in your paint.
- Select a small detailing brush if you’re working on a small creation or delicate details in a larger piece.
- Pick a large brush to cover larger areas of your project efficiently.
- Use a dotting tool for precise dots, whether you’re making eyes or a polka dot pattern.
Let the Clay Cool
If you decide to paint your project after you bake it, let the clay cool before adding color. Letting the clay cool is an essential step to ensure you won’t burn your fingers on hot materials. It’s also crucial for a better paint application. Paint can change consistency or adhere incorrectly to the surface of your project if it’s still warm. Give your creation time to cool once it bakes. The larger or thicker your project, the more time it will need to cool.
GOLDEN Retarder: Slow-Drying Additive for Acrylic Painting
At GOLDEN, we are often asked to more thoroughly explain the proper way to use Retarder. This simple paint additive slows down the drying rate of acrylic paints. How much Retarder is necessary and how much painting time an artist can gain is the focus of this article, as well as providing other factors contributing to the effectiveness of Retarder.
What is GOLDEN Retarder?
GOLDEN Retarder is an acrylic painting additive, containing mostly propylene glycol, used to “retard” or slow the evaporation rate of water. This additive simply increases the amount of time one is able to manipulate the paint before it starts drying. Retarders are sometimes called “humectants”, meaning they regulate moisture by either absorbing or expelling moisture. For the artist, the most important aspect is how long the paint remains mobile because as soon as enough water leaves the film, the paint can no longer be manipulated easily. This stage is referred to as “touch dry” or “skinned over”. For most painting techniques, this is the drying state that is more important than how long before the paint becomes solid.
How Do You Use Retarder?
A simple recommended addition is approximately 7 parts paint to 1 part Retarder, which is about a 15% addition. This is a safe percentage, to begin with, as it will increase working time but not greatly alter opacity or what’s known as “strap-down time,” which is a coatings term referring to the amount of time before one can apply additional paint layers without concern that the underlying paint is sensitive to water, ammonia, etc.
As we deep-dive into all of the factors contributing to how effective Retarder can be for a specific application, the actual duration of painting time you should expect begins to reveal itself.
Our suggested maximum amount of Retarder for specifically very thinly applied paint layers is equal parts paint to Retarder (1:1). This really is A LOT of Retarder, and at this level, your paint will be very different because you will have greatly altered the percentages of the ingredients, such as pigment and binder levels. So, before you start using copious amounts of Retarder, learn what it’s doing to your paint and process.
How Retarder Increases Painting Time
To understand how to best work with Retarder, you’ll need to understand its role in the film-formation process. Acrylics are roughly 50% water, with the acrylic polymers, pigments, and additives making up the rest of the product. From the moment one removes acrylic paints and mediums from their container, the water begins leaving the paint film.
As the water escapes into the air or is absorbed into the painting surface, the acrylic polymers and other solids are getting closer and closer to one another. The water and other additives in the formulation help the polymers to align properly and form a film. This process happens rapidly, and once the polymer chains have coupled together, the paint becomes touch-dry. (Investigating the Drying Process of Acrylics). Each new paint layer will form a chemical bond with the one underneath, eventually creating the complete paint film. Normally this allows an acrylic painter to apply new layers with great speed. But when you need more time to complete the paint application, adding Retarder can really make a difference in how the paint behaves.
The Importance of Water While Painting with Acrylics
At some point, the Retarder that was mixed into the paint starts to make the paint sticky. This is the result of the loss of water. If you are an acrylic painter, you certainly have felt the paint get grabby and hard to apply smoothly. If you are close to finishing the paint application there are no worries, but if you are not ready to stop painting, you need to add more water and re-set the painting time clock. By the way, you shouldn’t be trying to rehydrate your paints after you begin putting paint to canvas. It can be done, but water can be aggressive and remove thin paint areas as you re-brush the passage. If the paint layer is thick and textural, misting the surface can work quite well to prevent the paint from skinning over. The time to add water is while the paint is on the palette.
If you are loading the brush up with paint, get a sense of the paint’s consistency. If it feels tacky, add some water until it feels smooth and slippery. For those of you concerned about adding water into your acrylic paints, gain comfort in the fact that you are not actually “adding” water as much as you are replacing lost water, so there’s not a great issue of making the acrylic paint sensitive or weak. If you are at all concerned about this subject, read this article.
Factors that influence the drying rate of acrylic paints: Temperature, Humidity, Air Flow, and Surface Absorbency
Even if you didn’t use Retarder, there are still variables that can make a difference when it comes to open time and slowing the drying rate of the paints.
Temperature. Cool temperatures can slow evaporation rates and hot temps can accelerate drying time. So, when feasible, try to maintain a comfortable room temperature. Extremes in either direction can cause film formation defects (when the polymer chains do not properly attach together).
Humidity. As anyone who’s painted in humid weather can testify, humidity is actually much more influential than temperature when it comes to working and drying times. Air saturated with water vapor doesn’t easily allow more water to join in. If it’s very dry in the studio, increase humidity with a humidifier, or another device that pumps moisture into the air. Try to achieve a relative humidity above 70 to make a noticeable difference.
Air Flow. Would you be willing to suffer for your work if it means a more relaxed pace while painting? You may need to turn the fans off while you paint as air flow is not something that many artists take into consideration, but it can be a critical drying-time factor. Moving air can pull moisture out of a paint film rapidly.
Surface Absorbency. Finally, the painting surface’s absorbency is a critical factor when it comes to the use of Retarder and maximizing the working time. An absorbent surface, such as #300 watercolor paper, will readily wick up water and Retarder, leaving the artist with no gained advantage from the Retarder. The same paper, sealed with a coat or two of Gloss Medium, yields a surface that doesn’t suck up moisture, allowing for smoother, relaxed blending. Note: Gesso is what we would describe as semi-absorbent due to the pigment and other solids, but other products including a range of acrylic paints will serve the purpose nicely.
Watch the below video to see each of these factors influence the drying rate of acrylic paints:
How to “turn off” Retarder
When you are close to finishing up a section, stop “feeding” water to the paint. This will force the water still inside the paint to leave, and afterward, the Retarder follows suit. The time it takes for both water and Retarder to allow the paint to sufficiently dry is based on the other factors surrounding your painting.
As many of the conditions that serve to slow down the drying process should be reversed (if practical). Now you want some warm, moving air less humidity.
If your work isn’t on an easel, create an air space for the back of the painting, especially for stretched canvas. For example, if the work is lying flat on a table, raise it up so air can flow underneath.
If you feel the need for speed and want to use some heat (such as a hair-dryer) to accelerate drying, it’s better to heat the substrate side, not from the front. That’s right — don’t heat the front of the painting. This just forces the water and Retarder in towards the primer and substrate interface, especially with thicker paint films. Heat applied from the back pushes the additives out of the paint layer with much less time and effort. Note: Be very careful of the temperature and duration used to force-dry paints as it can cause acrylic binders to amber, similar in appearance to Support Induced Discoloration. It’s typically best for the paint to NOT force-dry and let it get there under normal circumstances.
When Can I Apply More Paint?
If you are painting thinly, as soon as the paint surface is touch dry you can move into the next paint application. If you are painting more generously, the paint surface is going to stay tackier for a longer period. This doesn’t mean you can’t apply more paint, but if you are going to be doing something a bit more physical, such as taping or sanding, it’s best to give those thicker passages some additional time, perhaps hours or even days. The safe timeframe is often 3 days.
Can I add MORE than 1:1?
We really do not suggest going beyond a 1:1 ratio, and even that amount is excessive for most painting techniques. Palette management is the better direction, and if you feel you have maximized the potential for adding Retarder and still need more working time, it’s time to move on to the GOLDEN OPEN Acrylics products. OPEN is more than just adding Retarder; there are other slow-drying additives in their formula that holds onto Retarder, providing even more working time. Here’s a great place to start learning about these slow-drying paints and how they differ from just using Retarder.
Please comment below, and let us know if you have any questions about increasing the working time of your acrylics.
About Michael Townsend
Michael has worked at GAC since 1989, starting in Quality Control, progressing to R&D, Custom Lab work, Applications Testing and investigating the properties of the vast array of pigment and binder. Currently a Materials Specialist focusing on consulting with artists worldwide on their artistic endeavors. A painter, writer, and father to 3 boys who remind him daily to enjoy and appreciate life.
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